The group behind the REvil ransomware strain have threatened to release confidential Apple hardware schematics unless the tech giant, or its supplier, pays a sizeable ransom fee.
The notorious group claims to have breached the Taiwanese firm Quanta Computer, one of the biggest hardware manufacturers in the world, making away with the blueprints of various Apple products.
In a message posted on the dark web, the group said Quanta refused to pay the ransom to reclaim their stolen data and as a result, the hackers had decided to extort Apple instead, according to the Record.
The REvil group posted 21 screenshots depicting MacBook schematics as proof for the infiltration and threatened to release new blueprints every day until either Apple or Quanta pay the demand.
“In order not to wait for the upcoming Apple presentations, today, we, the REvil group, will provide data on the upcoming releases of the company so beloved by many,” the hackers’ note said.
RELATED RESOURCE
The business guide to ransomware
Everything you need to know to keep your company afloat
“Tim Cook can say thank you Quanta. From our side, a lot of time has been devoted to solving this problem. Quanta has made it clear to use that it does not care about the data of its customers and employees, thereby allowing the publication and sale of all data we have.”
They also claimed to be negotiating with “several major brands” to sell this data, presumably many of Quanta Computer’s clients, while setting a 1 May deadline for Apple to “buy back” the confidential and personal data. Quanta Computer serves a handful of major companies including Microsoft and HP.
The announcement was made to coincide with the major Apple launch event in which the firm released a slew of new products. The ‘Spring Loaded’ event saw the company launch an M1-powered iMac with a 4.5K Retina display, a new iPad Pro also fitted with the M1 chip as well as purple iPhone 12 variants alongside other minor launches.
The highly active ransomware gang most recently targeted the Harris Federation academy trust of 48 schools based across London in the UK. This led to 37,000 students being locked out of their emails and coursework. Acer also fell victim to a record $50 million ransomware attack last month.
Its activities had previously led to the group generating more than $100 million in one year from extorting large businesses, including the infamous Travelex hack in January 2020. The REvil group has plans to raise its overall income to more than $2 billion over 2021.
-
Prolific ransomware operator added to Europe’s Most Wanted list as US dangles $10 million rewardNews The US Department of Justice is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest of Volodymyr Viktorovych Tymoshchuk, an alleged ransomware criminal.
-
Jaguar Land Rover “did the right thing” shutting down systems to thwart cyber attackNews The attack on Jaguar Land Rover highlights the growing attractiveness of the automotive sector
-
Ransomware attack on IT supplier disrupts hundreds of Swedish municipalitiesNews The attack on IT systems supplier Miljödata has impacted public sector services across the country
-
A notorious hacker group is ramping up cloud-based ransomware attacksNews The Storm-0501 threat group is refining its tactics, according to Microsoft, shifting away from traditional endpoint-based attacks and toward cloud-based ransomware.
-
Security researchers have just identified what could be the first ‘AI-powered’ ransomware strain – and it uses OpenAI’s gpt-oss-20b modelNews Using OpenAI's gpt-oss:20b model, ‘PromptLock’ generates malicious Lua scripts via the Ollama API.
-
Data I/O shuts down systems in wake of ransomware attack
News Regulatory filings by Data I/O suggest the costs of dealing with the attack could be significant
-
Average ransom payment doubles in a single quarterNews Targeted social engineering and data exfiltration have become the biggest tactics as three major ransomware groups dominate
-
BlackSuit ransomware gang taken down in latest law enforcement sting – but members have already formed a new groupNews The notorious gang has seen its servers taken down and bitcoin seized, but may have morphed into a new group called Chaos
